I have never paid any attention at all toPJ Harvey but someone told me that her new album is a series of protest songs about WWI. So I had to give it a listen and she is a genius. But not only this album she has a back catalog that is all of the highest quality.
Have you recently discovered anyone that you wish you had known about before?
The Shins.
Hated the name and not in my wheelhouse musically so I ignore them for a long time. Then my son insisted I listen and wow, just amazing. Some of the best songwriting, melodies, lyrics, vocals I’ve ever heard.
Adele; I used to think her music was soo boring and repetitive…
I used to loathe South Park even though my friends raved about it, but now for some reason I enjoy it.
Used to hate Patrick O’Brians books, but later got hooked on them.
In the past year, Frank Zappa and the novels of Don Robertson. I just finished The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.
The B-52s. I went to school in Athens Georgia, heard their songs thought they were nice but nothing special, then sometime about 2000 I was driving one night with the car radio on and for the first time I really HEARD the bass line to Rock Lobster. HOLY SHIT! HOW DID I MISS THAT?
Modest Mouse.
I remember back in 1996 when I was 17 my cooler-than-me friend with all sorts of indie cred (his bestie owned a super pretentious indie record store) was all “You gotta check out Modest Mouse!” and since every other recommendation had been spot-on I was like “ok!” then I was all “OMG Modest Mouse is the most boring band ever!”
Any time after that whenever people would bring them up I’d be all “I guess I don’t like indie. I so don’t like Modest Mouse” and I never tried to listen to them again.
Then…well then came Rock Band or Guitar Hero or whatever and MM had a song on it and I was intrigued because I really liked it (“Float On”) and then eventually I bought some MM on Amazon and borrowed some more from a friend and now I listen to them all the time and feel really cool.
I don’t usually tell people about initially poo-pooing the band but my friend did tell me that she thinks their early work is shitty too, so at least I’m not crazy. I am still not cool, though.
Well there was that one guy…
But actually I didn’t stumble onto ELO until, say the mid 90’s (listening to some of my husband’s vinyl) and they’re one of my favorite bands. (Kind of unusual since I was a Traveling Willbury’s fan, but never put two and two together.)
Or is that not the kind of thing you’re looking for?
[QUOTE=Message from the future]
You’re welcome.
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First became aware of them with the “unplugged” album on MTV, but it underwhelmed me. Then I got ahold of ‘Tigerlily’.
Just wow. Then ‘Our Time In Eden’. Now I know.
Sometimes I’m so far behind the curve I’m staring at my own ass.
Ha, some nice tastes here – I love PJ Harvey, The Shins, and Modest Mouse, though I’ve sorta lost contact with The Shins, perhaps it’s time to reconnect…
As for myself, I recently discovered John Grant, former lead singer of The Czars (which I kinda peripherally was aware of), when I heard this song on the radio while driving, and was instantly hooked. I don’t even recall when I last picked up something from the radio…
The Smiths/Morrissey.
I’ve always been aware of Morrissey’s general existence, but never bothered to check his stuff out, probably because I assumed it was for “old people” (I’m 22 now, this would have been in high school). Became a casual listener of The Smiths after college, then really got into them as well as Morrissey’s solo stuff.
I never heard of Tay Zonday until a few weeks ago.
Oh same here. The embarrassing thing is I was a teenager when they were in their heyday (late 80s) and I had for some reason managed to never have heard anything by them. (Though I was AWARE of them.)
I’m a Pet Shop Boys fan and only stumbled across them because of a fellow PSB fan I’d been chatting with. (She’s 16, lol. ANGST! “Only Morrissey/Joy Division understand me!”)
Sad to say, Townes Van Zandt never really hit my radar until a couple of years after he died.
I was flipping the TV channels looking for something to watch when I came upon a scene of two guys having a discussion. I stopped and stared. My mouth fell open. You simply do not see acting this great on TV. I remember thinking “I don’t know what I’m watching, but I wish someone had broken into my apartment, put a gun to my head, and forced me to watch the first episode.”
At the commercial break, I picked up my TV Guide and found out I was watching House. A scene of plain dialogue between House and Foreman (Hugh Laurie and Omar Epps).
I became a House fanatic that day.
I didn’t jump on the Amy Winehouse bandwagon until after she jumped ship. Saw her duet with Tony Bennett on, I think it was, the VMA’s and was duly impressed. Then heard Bruno Mars sing Valerie and loved it. Searched out more of her music… and yeah… Rehab is prolly my least favorite song by her.
The Black Keys. I first stumbled across “Psychotic Girl” on Pandora and loved it, about 4 months ago. Thought they were something new.
Robert Earl Keen. Love his music - discovered a few months ago, but he’s been around forever.
For most of my life, Tom Waits was just some guy who wrote that minor Eagles hit.